Tips For Grocery Shopping On A Budget
With the cost of gas and groceries constantly rising it is getting harder and harder to make ends meet. As a stay at home mom I have had to find creative ways to feed my family within a budget. Here are some tips that I have picked up along the way.
Planning Your Budget
The best way to live frugally is to plan ahead. Looking in the grocery ads can cause a wave of despair and worry that you won’t have enough money. Here are a few tips on planning your grocery budget that may help you stretch your dime into a dollar:
1. Calculations – Figuring out how much money you absolutely need is the key to frugal grocery shopping. Throughout the years, I’ve found that it takes approximately $30 – $37 dollars a week to feed one person – it may be more or less, depending on how much your family eats and where you live. Here’s a good formula to figure out your weekly grocery budget:
(people in the house) x $34 (middle ground) = (have to have for groceries)
For example, since there are four people in my home; I have $136 allotted for the week. With any luck I will save more with grocery coupons and store sales.
2. Plan your meals in advance. Keep them simple: meat, vegetable, carbohydrates. If possible, plan to use the same type of meat twice in one week; you can buy in bulk, separate and freeze. Hamburger, for example, is a good meat to use twice. One day you can make hamburgers; two days later, you can make spaghetti with a meat sauce.
3. With your menus planned make a list and put the price next to each item. You can easily get this amount from the sales ads and estimate the other staples on your list. If you are like me and buy the same staples often then you probably have a good idea of the cost.
4. Always round up, never down. If you’re buying something that’s $0.88, write it down as a dollar. We have been tricked by the “Buy a car for only $12,999!” ads into believing that $1.00 is a dollar, but $1.50 is a dollar, also. Those pennies add up; I end up spending $10 to $20 less than I planned to, using this rule.
5. Add up the totals as you shop. Since you are rounding up you can probably keep a running total in your head. Once you have reached that total, stop and check your meal plan. If you’re at your “have to have” amount and only have three meals covered, you need to reassess your meal plan; it may be too elaborate.
Although every household has a different level of how much they eat or how many people there are, this is a good start for budgeting groceries. You may have to fiddle with it a little to match your family’s needs.
Eating Healthy on a Budget
A lot of people say that it is hard to feed your family healthy foods on a budget. Even if rice and pasta become your main staples it doesn’t mean you can’t round out the meal plan with healthy fruits and vegetables. The next time you make a list keep these things in mind:
Not all vegetables are created equally – Buy frozen if you can’t afford fresh. The juice in canned vegetables is where most of your vitamins are. Not so with frozen vegetables; the vitamins are still in the food itself. Buying frozen vegetables generally gives you more for your money as well.
Buy potatoes, noodles or rice, but use them sparingly. Give larger amounts of vegetables, with the starches as a side dish.
Cut up carrots for kids to snack on. You can buy a large bag, peel them and then cut them up. Not only do they get vitamins this way, but they’re also low calorie. This is a great way to get in one of their veggies servings each day.
Buy in Bulk
Whenever you can – and if you have the freezer room – buy your meats and vegetables in bulk. You can save a lot of money this way. Meat is usually cheaper by the pound when you buy the big packs. If the store is having a sale consider stocking up even more.
You can do many things to cut costs at the grocery store; these are just a few tips. However, the biggest thing is to look at cost vs. amount. While generic foods may look like a better deal, the contents of the container may weigh much less than name brands. Do your research – though it may take more time, you will end up saving more money.
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